Switzerland vs the World

As you may or may not know, I am half Swiss. Half Swiss and half Welsh: Swelsh. (If there are any other Swelshies out there let me know; I suspect we are a rare breed.)

And for a while now I have been collecting things to do with Switzerland. Not tourist stuff, like mugs and T-Shirts, but things I see which either take the mick or honour the small country. For example, in Germany a few years ago I came across a magazine (in German) with the following cover;

In my very limited German, I got the gist that this was saying that the Swiss were boring, that they couldn't speak German, that they were crap at Football… It turned out the whole issue was dedicated to the Swiss. A German magazine dedicated to a tiny, non-European country; I found this fascinating! For some reason people are intrigued by the Swiss; maybe because they are a very private nation with some very dark secrets, a nation where four cultures are united but in constant dispute over whether to become part of Europe. But what is often forgotten is that Switzerland has also produced marvellous things; chocolate, cheese, Jean-Luc Goddard, Roger Federer, and Alberto Giacometti, to name but a few.

So when I was in Arles this year, my eye was caught by a book called Switzerland vs the World. Published by Riverboom, the book “tells the story of the unique visual match between Switzerland and the rest of the world”. It is essentially asking "What is typically Swiss? What is the same, and what is different, in Afghanistan, China and the United States?" The answer is given in a series of photographic typologies of certain categories, (fur coats vs burkhas, alpine beards vs Hindu-Kush beards, chariots vs lawn-mowers). With each typology appears a small text, discussing the category in each country, and deciding which country “wins”. It is a chance for Switzerland to strike back, to reclaim its place in the world. The result is light hearted and humorous, and an entertaining read for anyone, not just the Swiss!

These small thumbnails don't really do it justice, but you get the idea. Sadly, it isn’t distributed in the UK just yet. You can order it online though, from Riverboom. And you can read more about it and see some of the double page spreads here.